


quit your life and stay with me

by drunktuesdays



Category: Community
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-03-15
Updated: 2011-03-15
Packaged: 2017-10-16 23:52:57
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,668
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/170707
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/drunktuesdays/pseuds/drunktuesdays
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Abed made the announcement two weeks before the semester ended. "I'm transferring," he said placidly, and the conversation around the room came to an abrupt halt.</p><p>"Come again?" Jeff said flatly, slouched back in his seat.</p><p>"I'm transferring," Abed repeated. "I got into the NYU film school, and they're taking most of my Greendale credits so I'm moving to New York this summer."</p>
            </blockquote>





	quit your life and stay with me

Abed made the announcement two weeks before the semester ended. "I'm transferring," he said placidly, and the conversation around the room came to an abrupt halt.

"Come again?" Jeff said flatly, slouched back in his seat.

"I'm transferring," Abed repeated. "I got into the NYU film school, and they're taking most of my Greendale credits so I'm moving to New York this summer."

"Didn't we do this one already?" Pierce asked. "Didn't that one try transferring out," he gestured wildly at Annie, "and we were all very sad and then she didn't go anywhere after all?"

"Like the Hotel California," Jeff said. "Indeed."

"I don't get that reference," Troy said and suddenly every pair of eyes were on him.

"Oh my god Troy," Britta gasped. "What are you going to _do?_ "

"Uh," Troy said. "I was going to eat this burrito I've been keeping in my binder, and then I was gonna go see if Leonard had any--"

"About Abed," Shirley interrupted, reaching her hand across the table like she wants to take his.

"I'm right here," Abed said.

"But when you leave," Annie chimed in. "Troy, are you going to be okay?" The girls are all looking at him like he's a kitten they want to pet, and even Jeff looks like he's paying attention.

"Obviously," Troy said. "I helped him get in!"

"It's true," Abed said. "He was the lead in the space noir documentary I sent in with my application." They fistbump and touch their chests.

Everyone still looked a little confused, but Annie immediately started planning a party, and the conversation quickly devolved into a fight about cake.

 

Throughout the following week, Abed spent his time sorting movies and clothes into haphazardly labeled boxes, and Troy spent it lounging on his futon.

"Is your dad talking to you yet?" Troy asked, mouth full of Cheetos, drumming his fingers on his knees.

"No," Abed said. "I think he called the Financial Aid office like ten times to ask them to take back my scholarship. My sister says he's just going to miss me."

He didn't say it like he much believed the idea, and Troy thought of that time he met Abed's dad, and the lack of warmth between the two of them. "Probably," he said anyways. " _My_ dad wouldn't care. He's happy I'm not in the house anymore, just 'cause he says he got his own place when he was 16 but I'm pretty sure that was just to get away from Nana."

"You should come with me," Abed said, and folded a sweater into a box labeled "Happy Days".

"What?" Troy said, and rolled onto his stomach to catch Abed's eye, but Abed wouldn't look up. "What would _I_ do in New York?"

"You can graduate with your associate's with the credits you have now, and be in my student films. And other people's student films. You could do theatre." Abed said without inflection, continuing to avoid looking away from the box he was packing.

"I don't want to do theatre," Troy said, mouth dry. He sat up and pushed the bag of Cheetos away from him, wincing at the loud noise in the oddly solemn room.

"You could do it thoough," Abed said. "You're a professional dancer, you love being in front of the camera, and your voice in the shower is at least passable enough for most musicals."

"Stop listening to me in the shower," Troy said automatically, his mind feeling slow and stupid. "I don't dance professionally, I just dance for fun sometimes. Not even really that often, when you think about it."

"I know you hate it when things you like to do become things you depend on." Abed said, finally meeting Troy's gaze full on. His eyes were wide and his mouth was set and serious. "That's why you gave up your football scholarship, and why you think you want to be an accountant because you'll hate it but no one will pressure you to be good at it. But you could be good at theatre, and you could also have fun at it but you're scared because you think you'll fail. "

Without further comment, Troy ran from the room, only slowing once he reached fresh air. He _hated_ when Abed tried to write his character bio.

The only problem was that the only place Troy had to run _to_ was Pierce's house. Luckily, Pierce was in a good mood when Troy found him in the Pamela Anderson wing. "Hey sport," Pierce said, "Want some pig ears?"

"No," Troy groaned and collapsed on a couch that was worth more than he was. Most things in Pierce's house were.

"Your loss," Pierce said and bit into one with delight. "What's shaking?"

"Abed wants me to come with him to New York," Troy admitted.

"New York," Pierce mused. "I nearly married a hooker in New York. Wasn't the city though, it was White Plains."

"Awesome," Troy said. "Too bad I'm not in _that_ situation, maybe you would help."

"Help?" Pierce scoffed. "You don't need help. Go with your boyfriend and get matching poodles to walk in the park and shut up about it. You know you want to."

"Ugh," Troy groaned. "You're the worst." He slunk off to bed, and spent the rest of the night watching his ceiling fan, and his thoughts felt as though they spun with it.

The next day, Abed was subdued when Troy met him in the hallway. They walked towards Anthropology together, Abed's messenger bag gently brushing his elbow, when Troy stopped short and said "Go ahead, I'll catch up with you later."

Abed looked blank. "Do you want--"

"No," Troy rushed to say. "Just, I'll see you later, okay?" They fistbumpchested and Troy spun on his heels towards the Dean's office.

"Hey," he said, sitting down in front of Dean Pelton's desk "Is it true I could graduate this semester?"

The Dean looked annoyed. "Do I look like the guidance counselor to you? Or do I look like the dean of an ENTIRE COLLEGE who has VERY IMPORTANT work to be doing."

Troy leaned forward. "It looks like you're googling 'yiffing'" he said.

"Okay," The Dean said brightly. "Barnes, Troy!" Let me just get your record here all pulled up and hmm. Hmm. Hmmmmm." He pulled out a calculator and added some things in a process Troy couldn't understand and then said, "Well, Mr. Barnes, you do have all the credits and requirements needed for your Associate's. How many tickets will you require for our Graduates Dinner?"

"Dinner?" Troy said dumbly.

The Dean looked defensive. "The cafeteria's the biggest spot we have and my cousin Joe does catering and _he_ said--"

Troy left, even more confused than ever.

 

Abed found him later, lying on a park bench outside, When Troy looked up, it was all nostrils and he couldn't help but smile. Something in Abed's shoulders relaxed too, and he smiled back.

"The dean said I can graduate," Troy said, sitting up and moving over.

Abed sat down and folded his arms across his knees. "Yes."

"And you want to live with me. In New York."

"Yes," Abed said again.

"Why now?" Troy said, frustrated. "Why not before, when _I_ asked?"

"That was last season," Abed said. "Semester," he corrected himself, like he had done a thousand times before. "I wasn't ready. But now it would be different."

"Different," Troy mused.

 

When they went into the study room, there was brownies and punch on the table, and Annie was standing on a chair, hanging the other end of a banner that said "Buena Suerte, Abed" on it.

"Oh Abed," Shirley said and reached forward to hug him. "I'm gonna miss you."

"Yeah, Abed," Britta said, punching him in the arm. "It's gonna be weird without you."

It felt a little awkward somehow, just standing there, so Troy blurted out, "I'm going with him."

"Oh thank God," Britta said immediately, and Annie ripped a piece of paper off the banner that revealed the "and Troy".

"Obviously," Jeff said, but he came forward too, and pulled them both into a hug.

"Oh my gosh," Shirley said, dabbing her eyes. "Everything is changing!"

 

As predicted, Troy's parents just seemed relieved they didn't have to pay tuition anymore. They helped him buy his ticket, and ship his stuff, and Pierce got him a clerk job at one of the Hawthorne Wipes offices in Manhattan.

He and Abed poured over craigslist ads; started with looking at beautiful lofts with hardwood floors but quickly got with reality and called on a two room place in Brooklyn above a convenience store.

They got twin beds and set up one of the rooms as a bedroom, decorating half of it with Human Being Pendants and pictures of Levar, and the other half with movie posters and a detailed subway map.

They lucked out at a flea market in their neighborhood, where they found a framed promotional post of the first KickPuncher movie, and they voted to hang it in the living room/dining room/kitchen room, above the couch. Abed made victory arms after hanging it himself, but after about thirty seconds, it fell, crashing harmlessly on top of the couch, managing to balance perfectly. Troy laughed so hard, he puked up his Froot Loops, but they left it there, balancing.

Troy's job at Hawthorne Wipes was apparently Pierce's gift to them, because Troy worked part time and still made enough to have a little money after rent. Pretty much he was responsible for putting stamps on things and putting them in the out bin but after the fifth time his boss had to explain that the stamps were self-adhesive and he didn't have to lick them, she bought him a metered postage machine. It was pretty clear they all thought he was one of Pierce's stepchildren.

The week Abed started school, Troy puttered a little aimlessly, hating coming home to an empty apartment but then Abed came home with a project and Troy got to put on a ruffled collar and an accent.

"Okay," Abed said. "You're Colin Firth in _Pride and Prejudice_ but also kind of Colin Firth in _Love Actually_.

Troy pushed up on his toes, but also sort of slouched his shoulders and tried to smile without teeth. There was a silence, and then Abed was calling out directions, like "Straighten your back. Look at that window when you deliver this next line. Crouch!" They got into the swing of the whole thing and Troy gave the dramatic monologue with gusto, feeling easy and confident.

Abed took him to school to shoot the scenes with the other members of the cast, and he found that hanging around the hallways usually put him by flyers looking for more actors for other student films.

"I am good at this, yo," he said, slamming the door as he came home from doing one for some seniors and Abed nodded affirmatively.

"It's 'cause you take direction well," he said, watching a movie and taking notes.

"Damn straight I do." Troy went over to the fridge and picked random things out of it to put in a casserole. He and Abed had lived on Ramen for the first week, and Abed seemed capable of doing forever, but Troy got bored sometimes and after an experimental quesadilla went well, he sometimes did other stuff. Half the time it even came out edible.

"Do you want to Skype the group tonight?" he called over his shoulder. "They're meeting soon." Abed did, so he opened his laptop and Troy made Annie put her laptop between his and Abed's chairs. He was kind of weirded out by Chang being in his seat, but Jeff assured them it was due to a lost bet involving a live bat and the ASPCA. Pierce laughed so hard at the memory that he started wheezing and fell out of his chair.

 

Time passed mostly pleasantly, and Troy was even getting used to the subway panhandlers and the way the store owner downstairs yelled about milk at 5am. Then one night, he came home and Abed was sitting crosslegged on their crappy sofa, staring into space.

"Yo," Troy said, snapping his fingers to get Abed's attention. "Problem?"

"My professor says my films lack sensuality," Abed reported. "I tried doing a love story, and he said it was hamhanded, like a little girl playing with Barbie dolls."

"Do you want me to punch him?" Troy said, casting for anything else to say.

"No," Abed said. “But do you wanna shoot something for me?"

Troy shrugged and stood in the corner of the apartment where the tripod sat. Abed stood behind it and tested the lens.

"What am I doing?" Troy said, shrugging out of his hoodie and tossing it to the floor.

Abed watched him contemplatively. "Have you ever stripped?"

Troy burst out laughing. "What?"

"You can dance. Can you strip?"

"I dance jazz and ballet, not Chippendales."

"Try it," Abed instructed.

Troy shrugged and unbuttoned the first button on his sweater.

"Cock your hips," Abed called, and automatically, Troy followed the direction. There was a moment of silence and he did another button. He bit his lip and turned his knee out farther.

"One arm at a time," Abed said and Troy tugged at the wrist and slowly pulled an arm out of the sweater. He twirled the other arm so that the fabric caught in the air over his head before hitting the ground off camera.

Abed gave him the thumbs up.

Troy crossed his arms over his torso to tug at the edge of his shirt, his eyes fastened on Abed, and lifted it up and off. Abed's eyes were dark, so dark Troy could barely see pupil. “This is getting weird,” he said.

“Do you want to stop?” Abed said, hiding his face behind the view finder.

Troy shook his head. Bare now on top, he flicked the fly on his jeans down, and they made a rough noise as they fell. He kicked them away, and they went sailing into the other half of the room, the safe part of the room, the part of the room that wasn’t going insane.

He hooked his thumb in the top of his briefs and said hoarsely, "Abed."

Abed came in a rush from behind the camera and pushed him back against the wall they had covered in white cloth. Troy's breath came raggedly as Abed's knee pushed between his, and his hand came down to wrap around Troy's thumb where it lay just inside the cloth of his briefs.

Troy tilted his head to catch Abed's mouth in a hot kiss that made his shoulders sag and his stomach curl. Abed kissed him back, bracing one hand on the wall next to Troy's head and Troy thought it only fair that he start tugging at all the layers Abed had on.

After a brief tangle that knocked them both to the floor, laughing, Troy rolled on top of Abed and kissed him until they were both stupid and shoving against each other in need. Troy hesitated for a few heartbeats, and then reached inside Abed's boxers to wrap his hand around Abed's dick.

He jerked them off together in one, two, three easy pulls and they were spent, gasping and laughing at each other.

"Damn," Troy said, rolling back onto his back on the floor, satisfied.

"I don't think I can use any of that," Abed said contemplatively, and Troy laughed until he almost threw up.

A week later, Troy panted as they moved in sync. "This isn't going to work."

"Yes it is," Abed said, breathing undisturbed.

"How are you not dying?" Troy said, outraged, and Abed shrugged as best he could from his position.

"There's probably a better way for you boys to do that," a stranger commented, and Troy called back "We know," as they lugged a double bed down twelve more blocks to their apartment.


End file.
